Local councils should use agencies that have carers available when people need to leave hospital. This would stop bed blocking and prevent people like my poor Dad, (88 years old), from being stuck in a hospital bed for FOUR months!! He is so upset, he has given up and to be honest, I think he will die in there if something is not done soon.

Please stop DEFRA from ending support to Rural Community Councils to prevent rural areas from becoming a green desert with no community life support!

Rural Community Councils are not an unaffordable luxury, they provide direct support to often isolated and disadvantaged rural communities with help to create a sense of community, campaign for local services that meet genuine needs, manage important local assets and get involved in active participation in democracy and volunteering.

There is a process taking place of changing the commissioning of dialysis from NHS England to GPs (CCGs). Dialysis would no longer come under the banner of specialised care and would become non-prescribeable. GPs are not experts in this field.
I do not believe these changes are in the interests of patients but rather they appear to be further fragmentation and watering down of important services to make eventual bidding for these services easier.

The police force is continually given bad press or blamed for every problem that comunities face these days. My campaign is actually not about the police force but actually about fighting for the people that continually put their lives on the frontline to help the fight against crime. The people that the government has left stranded as they continously cut costs leaving forces with unsafe numbers to fight crime and therefore putting people's safety at risk everytime they go to work.

A government that spends ridiculous amounts on police commissioners that do nothing but get paid £100k per year.

A government that has created a target driven police force which doesn't achieve anything but a number for them to publish which aren't even realistic when investigated in detail.

We as a community shouldn't stand and watch the government destroy the careers of police officers that everyone of us rely on when we have an emergency in our lives. It is easy to blame a police officer but why aren't we looking deeper into the problem. Stop blaming the frontline officers that are getting the raw end of the deal and start asking the government to stop cutting costs and actually supporting our police force to solve crimes and be able to research and investigate to the depth that they need to not what the government dictates them to with ridiculous cuts.

I bet if you looked closely into a life of a police officer you would be shocked at their work life and the strain that is put upon them which has deteriorated over the years as the government continues to cut the costs to this extremely important pubic service.

The police force is continually given bad press or blamed for every problem that comunities face these days. My campaign is actually not about the police force but actually about fighting for the people that continually put their lives on the frontline to help the fight against crime. The people that the government has left stranded as they continously cut costs leaving forces with unsafe numbers to fight crime and therefore putting people's safety at risk everytime they go to work.

A government that spends ridiculous amounts on police commissioners that do nothing but get paid £100k per year.

The power to take children away from their families could be privatised along with other child protection services under controversial plans the government has quietly announced.

The proposal from Michael Gove's Department for Education (DfE) to permit the outsourcing of children's social services in England to companies such as G4S and Serco has alarmed experts. They say profit-making companies should not be in charge of such sensitive family matters, and warn that the introduction of the profit motive into child protection may distort the decision-making process.

Making money out of tragic children is the extreme end of the outsourcing culture. The history of contracting and privatisation has mainly been high cost and high profit for worse service. This 30-year policy has, without evidence, been driven by contempt for the idea of a public ethos, and conviction that private is always best.

An 18% return on the most disturbed and needy children in care homes is the extreme end of Britain's outsourcing culture according to a report by Polly Toynbee today.

'In the two years between 2010 and 2012 outsourcing to private children’s homes rose 8% to 67%.' a place for a "naughty" child costs the same as nine children at Eton. Or you could put each one in the Savoy with a personal tutor. Money would be better spent on extra psychotherapy and education for children whose outcomes are so dismal. A quarter of prisoners come from care.

We need to mount a campaign to bring this appalling practice to an end.

Making money out of tragic children is the extreme end of the outsourcing culture. The history of contracting and privatisation has mainly been high cost and high profit for worse service. This 30-year policy has, without evidence, been driven by contempt for the idea of a public ethos, and conviction that private is always best.

An 18% return on the most disturbed and needy children in care homes is the extreme end of Britain's outsourcing culture according to a report by Polly Toynbee today.

'In the two years between 2010 and 2012 outsourcing to private children’s homes rose 8% to…

There must be Free health care for pensioners whether they have been living abroad or not. They are British citizens. They are saving the country money while being retired abroad - no pension credit, no housing benefit etc. This 3 or 6 month rule should be abolished immediately. This rule states that British expats will not receive free health care from NHS should they return to live in UK Also Pensioners retired in Thailand have their pension frozen. There is no reason for this either and it should be stopped.

Essex County Council started consultations on May 23rd 2013 to close a secondary school in Thundersley Essex rated as a "Good school with outstanding features" by OFSTED. This is a constructive closure by Councillor Gooding The Cabinet Member of Education and Lifelong Learning. His consultation is flawed and has been recommended by his own Scrutiny Commitee that "there is insufficient evidence" to close the school. Yet he ignores his own council and presses ahead with the closure. Rebecca Harris MP is fully opposed to the closure as is the local Castle Point Borough Councillors and the neighbouring Southend Unity Council and Basildon . The figures published in Cllr Gooding consultation were incorrect and have been proven so. Two local schools have been paid £2m to take 30 students each out of the 800 children that will lose their choice of being educated at The Deanes School leaving them no other alternative that to travel out of the area to finish their education. There are 2000 + homes being built in the area and one man Cllr Gooding is closing a school ???? We have a facebook page with over 3000 members dedicated to our campaign https://www.facebook.com/groups/savesthedeanes/ . We have all the local council members as well as Rebecca Harris MP and Steven Metcalf on board fighting for this unique school to stay open . Council funds were/are ringfenced for a new build on the school site to include a special school on our grounds, we were going to be a flagship school incorporating mainstream and special educational need children working in harmony together. ESSEX COUNTY COUNCIL ARE PULLING THE PLUG ON US. We need your help to bring national awareness and fight with us to keep the school open.

Essex County Council started consultations on May 23rd 2013 to close a secondary school in Thundersley Essex rated as a "Good school with outstanding features" by OFSTED. This is a constructive closure by Councillor Gooding The Cabinet Member of Education and Lifelong Learning. His consultation is flawed and has been recommended by his own Scrutiny Commitee that "there is insufficient evidence" to close the school. Yet he ignores his own council and presses ahead with the closure. Rebecca Harris MP is fully opposed to the closure as is the local Castle Point Borough Councillors and the neighbouring Southend Unity Council…

On 22nd May in York GPs will vote on whether to propose charging for GP visits. If they decide to do so this would set in motion the end of the NHS set up in 1948 'free at the point of use' and would ensure that poorer people will be unfairly disadvantaged. The majority of the population is against this and the only people who will gain are private healthcare companies who will suddenly be in demand, and their shareholders (including many MPs in the present government who are 'coincidentally' starving the NHS of funds). The proposal is for people to write to their GPs asking them to vote against charging as being fundamentally unfair and socially destructive.

On 22nd May in York GPs will vote on whether to propose charging for GP visits. If they decide to do so this would set in motion the end of the NHS set up in 1948 'free at the point of use' and would ensure that poorer people will be unfairly disadvantaged. The majority of the population is against this and the only people who will gain are private healthcare companies who will suddenly be in demand, and their shareholders (including many MPs in the present government who are 'coincidentally' starving the NHS of funds). The proposal is for people…

The US-EU free trade agreement (TTIP : Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) is extremely important because it will make lots of struggles completely pointless, especially for the NHS but also against fracking.
The most proeminent points of the TIPP are:
- elimination of all trade tariffs and the reduction of all tariff barriers
- more closely tied cooperation among the EU and US regulatory bodies protection
- restriction of subsidies to state-owned enterprises (e.g: NHS, Education, Justice etc.)

Prioritising ‘regulatory harmonisation’ means bringing together the regulatory frameworks of the EU and the US, making them much more alike. Many areas of our lives will be affected, such as food safety. Generally, standards will go down, including for health protection, food etc. For example it will be possible to sell chicken treated with chlorine.

Furthermore, corporations will have the right to sue the UK government for any attempts at ‘reversals’ that limit future corporate profits, and they will be able to sue govts directly in international trade dispute jurisdictions of their choosing i.e. not at the level of the host country’s legal system, for the loss (or 'expropriation') of all anticipated profits.
Last but not least, negotiations are confidential. It means that we will not have any information before an agreement is reached by the "partners".

The US-EU free trade agreement (TTIP : Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) is extremely important because it will make lots of struggles completely pointless, especially for the NHS but also against fracking.
The most proeminent points of the TIPP are:
- elimination of all trade tariffs and the reduction of all tariff barriers
- more closely tied cooperation among the EU and US regulatory bodies protection
- restriction of subsidies to state-owned enterprises (e.g: NHS, Education, Justice etc.)

Prioritising ‘regulatory harmonisation’ means bringing together the regulatory frameworks of the EU and the US, making them much more alike. Many areas…

For average hardworking people to write to their GP and advise them to inform the BMA to vote NO regarding the new charging service as their patients would no longer be able to afford visits to their GP. That the NHS should remain a free service and that by voting no we are protecting the vulnerable in our society, the young children, the elderly and those unable to cope who require constant support.
So write to your GP today and tell them to vote no to the BMA by the 22nd may 2014 and keep the NHS services free.

The government has been investing in Health Visitor services, pledging to increase numbers so all women and their babies and toddlers receive a good universal service and hundreds of new Health Visitors have been trained. When Public Health services transferred from the NHS to LAs in 2013 including the commissioning of school nursing services it was with a ring fenced budget protecting these services from Council cut backs. At this time it was planned that funding for Health Visiting would follow and also be commissioned by Public Health in 2015, once the the target for increasing Health Visitors numbers had been reached in 2015. This would enable a complete preventative health service could be offered to children aged 0-19. However recently the group formed to determine how the transfer will happen which includes the Department of Health, the Local Government Association and the current commissioners NHS England is considering only mandating that the funding should transfer to LAs for each Council to decide locally how budgets will be managed. It is possible there will be no requirement to keep the money ring fenced and the service will not be mandatory. Why would this happen you may ask? Directors of Children service struggling under cuts are lobbying this group to ensure they will receive this budget. Once this happens it is very likely that a universal Health Visiting service available to all will be diminished and the chance to develop integrated 0-19 public health focused preventative health service delivered by qualified public health nurses (both Health Visitors and School Nurses) much harder to achieve. We need to lobby the mandate group to keep public health nursing services within public health commissioning control and within the ring fence so it cannot be lost into the black hole of council cuts and for this newly expanded service to be protected by becoming a mandatory Public Health Service. Only the mandatory services must be commissioned by LAs the others are at far more risk of cutbacks.

The government has been investing in Health Visitor services, pledging to increase numbers so all women and their babies and toddlers receive a good universal service and hundreds of new Health Visitors have been trained. When Public Health services transferred from the NHS to LAs in 2013 including the commissioning of school nursing services it was with a ring fenced budget protecting these services from Council cut backs. At this time it was planned that funding for Health Visiting would follow and also be commissioned by Public Health in 2015, once the the target for increasing Health Visitors numbers had…

May I implore you to lend your support and to champion the strongest outcry and opposition to this proposal.
G4S could not organise the security for mature, responsible adults (the Olympic Games) as well as failing to protect the general public from convicted prisoners at the same time as fraudulently overcharging for non-existent tagging of offenders, therefore how can they be charged with the responsibility for protecting the most innocent and vulnerable who have no voice of their own, let alone any recourse, redress or right of appeal.
Vulnerable children are at the mercy of professionals charged with their protection and care. How can anyone in their right mind possibly contemplate handing over responsibility for them to a private group who, to date, have singularly failed to fulfil commitments for far less onerous and responsible objectives?
This proposal is incredulous to the extreme, and defies belief, let alone logic, rationale or reason, surely if this proposal becomes public knowledge there will be an outcry from every responsible adult with an iota of common sense and concern for the most vulnerable section of our society today.
I am tempted to enquire if the originators and supporters of this proposal are on some sort of illegal substance, or just morally bankrupt.
Copied and pasted from “anon”

May I implore you to lend your support and to champion the strongest outcry and opposition to this proposal.
G4S could not organise the security for mature, responsible adults (the Olympic Games) as well as failing to protect the general public from convicted prisoners at the same time as fraudulently overcharging for non-existent tagging of offenders, therefore how can they be charged with the responsibility for protecting the most innocent and vulnerable who have no voice of their own, let alone any recourse, redress or right of appeal.
Vulnerable children are at the mercy of professionals charged with their protection…

I only found out about the care.data scheme by accident when a leaflet was delivered with a pile of other junk that usually goes straight in the bin.
This care.data scheme is easily confused with the NHS Summary Care Record, so some people may already think they opted out last year. ( the latter was an internal NHS patient information sharing system that provided patient basic health details for emergency use to other direct health providers ie hospital. The patient could view their own information and provide further details. It never got off the ground and was abandoned last year!)

This care.data scheme is no longer about direct health carers having access to relevant medical records in order to give you the best treatment. It’s about disclosing private and personal information to unidentified third parties and has all of the characteristics of an attempt to quietly acquire the “right” to gather the private medical data about the majority of the British public without them realising. ‘Data mining' is becoming very big business and you have no control on what information on you is used, who by and what they really want to do with this data. Different parts of the NHS are currently been sold off to private companies. Will information be shared with those companies? Not to mention the elephant in the room. There is an obvious security issue.
At the very least each individual should be given the right to see the information that is to be shared before and after release and even if you opt out how do you know your wishes have been adhered to as you have no means of checking this.
No, This is an ‘opt-out’ scheme and the lack of any easy method of notifying the GP practice, (there is no opt-out pro-forma), makes it still more suspicious that this is a crafty way of maximising the number of those whose data will be taken either without their knowledge, or through inertia.
This undermines the confidential relationship between Dr and patient. There are aspects of my personal medical history which I would not have shared with my GP had I known that it would be made available to third parties and I shall be very economical over what I divulge to my GP from now on. In future I will carefully consider what I choose to disclose if it cannot be kept securely within the confines of the GP practice. I no longer feel that I can have an open, but private conversation with my GP, either about my own medical needs or those of my family.

By the time it gets to the inevitable legal challenges/actions and Parliamentary Select Committees, after the event, it will all be too late.
A Parliamentary early day motion has been tabled. To see the motion, view
http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2013-14/979I would offer this as a worthwhile cause and ask that you ask our members to help stop this scheme now.

I only found out about the care.data scheme by accident when a leaflet was delivered with a pile of other junk that usually goes straight in the bin.
This care.data scheme is easily confused with the NHS Summary Care Record, so some people may already think they opted out last year. ( the latter was an internal NHS patient information sharing system that provided patient basic health details for emergency use to other direct health providers ie hospital. The patient could view their own information and provide further details. It never got off the ground and was abandoned last year!)

Retract plans to close The Pilgrims Hospice, Canterbury in 2016 and allow it to remain in its current working state.
Following the disclosure yesterday that Steve Auty wants to close the Pilgrims Hospice in Canterbury in 2016, this petition already has 5,200 signatures. We need more people to be informed about this through 38 degrees. This Hospice was built by local people for local people and is a fantastic example of all that can be achieved for everyone that needs the wonderful services it provides. A recent BBC programme Inside Out focused on the Pilgrims Hospice to show how much care, love and understanding, besides the clinical excellence is given by all the staff and volunteers who work there.It also made it apparent that far from needing less services in the future, more Hospice places will be needed. I for one will do all that I can to stop this happening and ask for your support and signatures
to help in this campaign.

Petition started by Sarah Kelly,Teynham, United Kingdom

Petitioning FAO Steve Auty

Retract plans to close The Pilgrims Hospice, Canterbury in 2016 and allow it to remain in its current working state.
Following the disclosure yesterday that Steve Auty wants to close the Pilgrims Hospice in Canterbury in 2016, this petition already has 5,200 signatures. We need more people to be informed about this through 38 degrees. This Hospice was built by local people for local people and is a fantastic example of all that can be achieved for everyone that needs the wonderful services it provides. A recent BBC programme…

My name is Chris Harper and I am 38 degree member. I have taken up the challenge to make a documentary to provoke awareness of the young adults who are leaving the care system.

These youngsters receive virtually no support or after-care once they have left foster care. There are at this moment in time 70,000 children within the care system, 4 out of 5 young adults who leave the care system will be involved in crime and prison or caught up in drugs and manipulated into prostitution, or more recently grooming by certain gangs.

30% of all homeless in the UK from the care system, there are generations of youngsters who are crying out for help, I know because I was in care myself and there are many problems within the care system but I feel this particular key problem, really needs highlighting with urgency.

Within this documentary, I'll be interviewing youngsters who've left the care system and to hear their story on how they are surviving and coping with life for good or bad. I will be making a fair and non-judgmental documentary and hear from all parties, from the youngsters to the Foster families to social services.

I've set up a sponsorship page, on a crowd funding website which I am asking the public for their kindness and help to get this project moving:

Please can you help me, circulate this letter to all 38 degrees members. I wish to hear from any members, who have been in care to tell their story or any social workers opinions on the subject.

I'm not here to point fingers, I just want to bring awareness and help for these young adults to move forward in their lives. Change starts with one step forward.

Even if this project does not happen, just having enough people talking about it could lead to change and that is my number one goal.

My kindest regards

Chris Harper.

My name is Chris Harper and I am 38 degree member. I have taken up the challenge to make a documentary to provoke awareness of the young adults who are leaving the care system.

These youngsters receive virtually no support or after-care once they have left foster care. There are at this moment in time 70,000 children within the care system, 4 out of 5 young adults who leave the care system will be involved in crime and prison or caught up in drugs and manipulated into prostitution, or more recently grooming by certain gangs.